Governing body

Also called Governors, Trust board, Local governing body

The volunteers legally responsible for a school's conduct. The formal step above the headteacher.

What it is

A governing body — or in an academy, the trust board and often a local governing body beneath it — is responsible for the school's strategic direction, holding the headteacher to account, and overseeing financial and staff performance.

Governors are volunteers and are not employees of the school.

Where it applies

Every maintained school has a governing body. Every academy trust has a board of trustees, which may delegate to a local governing body per school.

How it works

Governors do not run the school day to day and should not be asked to overturn a teacher's decision about a lesson. They do sit on formal panels: exclusion reviews, complaints at stage two or three, and admission and staffing matters.

They must have a SEND governor or a governor with oversight of SEND.

What you can ask for

Ask for the complaints procedure and follow its stages in order. Governors will normally refuse to look at something that has not been through the headteacher.

Ask for a governors' panel in writing, and ask what documents the panel will see. You are entitled to see the same papers.

For a permanent exclusion, the governors' review is a statutory meeting with fixed timescales, not a general complaint.

Where to get help

The school website lists governors and the complaints policy. The National Governance Association publishes plain guidance on what governors can and cannot do.